First Look: A Gerard Butler Film Transformed This Milk Bar, Then Macgregor’s Brought Smash Burgers

Macgregor’s Original wasn’t meant to be a bricks-and-mortar operation.

“Mac came to me and said, ‘We have this idea [for a food truck],’” says Laura Boulton, head chef at Heide Kitchen and a partner in the project. “I was like, ‘That’s sick – as long as we don’t open a shop. You don’t want a shop because it’s too much of a headache.’ And then the first thing we did was open a shop.”

Founded by powerlifting coach Macgregor McNair, entrepreneur Aaron Savrone and Boulton, Macgregor’s Original is a burger spot with a simple brief to make great American-style burgers.

“People have sort of lost their way with burgers,” McNair says. “The squeakiest wheel gets the most grease; the burger with the most stuff piled on it – the one dripping everywhere, the extreme stunt burgers – that’s what gets the attention. We’ve just pared it right back and tried to make really good, simple burgers.”